Total Phenolic and Caffeic Acid Contents in Roots of Solanum indicum L. from Different Agroclimatic Regions of Madhya Pradesh State of India

Introduction: Solanum indicum L. is one of the species of Dashmularishta, a wellestablished ayurvedic medicine used in the treatment of fatigue, oral sores and gynecological disorders. The present investigation dealt with the estimation of total phenolic and caffeic acid contents in roots of S. indicum from different agroclimatic regions of Madhya Pradesh. Materials and Methods: The roots were collected from 8 places of 7 agroclimatic regions of Madhya Pradesh following purposive sampling. Phenolic content was determined with spectrophotometric method and caffeic acid content was estimated using HPTLC device. Results: The roots from Indore (Malwa plateau) and Balaghat (Chhattisgarh plains) contained maximum (0.859%) and minimum (0.595%) phenolic content respectively. Similarly, the highest content of caffeic acid was detected in the roots (0.0198%) collected from Chhindwara and Betul (Satpura plateau) and lowest content (0.0084%) in roots of Amarkantak (Northern Hill’s Zone of Chhattisgarh). Conclusion: The present investigation revealed the highest phenolic content in root samples of Indore belonging to Malwa plateau and maximum content of caffeic acid in root samples of Chhindwara and Betul belonging to Satpura plateau agroclimatic regions. The populations of Chhindwara and Betul can be considered as superior chemotypes in terms of caffeic acid content and can be in-situ as well as ex-situ conserved for future.